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Paul Mance, Head Coach
Alma Mater: Appalachian State, 1969
Years at ASU: 31

Paul Mance enters his 36th season as a head coach and his 32nd season as head wrestling coach at Appalachian State University. In 2004, Mance recorded his 300th career victory with his alma mater on Feb. 22, against Virginia Tech. Mance has now pushed his career mark to 327-196-10. His winning percentage of .614, places him atop the list as the winningest wrestling coach in Appalachian State University history.
Mance surpassed R.W. “Red” Watkins for the Appalachian all-time coaching victories mark with a 42-6 victory over Delaware State at the Wolfpack Duals on January 18, 1997. The man who laid the groundwork for the Mountaineer program. Watkins posted a 239-22-8 record in his 25 seasons at Appalachian. Mance wrestled for Steve Gabriel, a hall-of-fame wrestler and coach for ASU.
A native of Alexandria Bay, N.Y., Mance assumed the head coaching duties in August of 1976 and has guided the Mountaineers to 21 winning seasons, eight regular season Southern Conference titles and five SoCon tournament championships. His Appalachian squads have finished no lower than second in the Southern Conference in 23 of his 31 previous seasons. The program had its string of 17 consecutive top-two showings at the league championships snapped in 1998. In all, he has produced 74 SoCon champions and 84 NCAA Championships qualifiers. Two-time All-American Mark Fee became Mance’s third national honoree with his seventh-place showing at the national championships in 2003. In addition, Mance’s squads have produced at least one league individual champion in 29 of his 31 seasons in Boone. Eight Mountaineers have been named Most Outstanding Wrestler under Mance, and two have gone on to compete at the Olympics (Dale Oliver 1988, Ike Anderson 1988 & 1992).
Named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in three different decades and a total of six times (1989, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001 and 2003), Mance’s 1978-79 squad set a school mark for dual match victories in a season with 19, posting a 19-4-1 overall record. His 1983-84 team finished 18-2 on the season and recorded a 12-match winning streak, second best in Appalachian history. Nineteen times his clubs have claimed 10 or more victories in a campaign. Three times his squads have finished with winning streaks of 10 or more. Only six times in his 30 seasons have Mance led teams finished with a sub-.500 record, and just three have suffered or more losses in a single season.
A 1969 graduate of Appalachian, Mance spent one season as assistant coach at his alma mater before becoming head wrestling coach at Herkimer County (N.Y.) Community College. His Herkimer teams compiled a four-year mark of 39-16, including a 32-6 record over his final two seasons. While at Herkimer, Mance began his legacy of producing championship wrestlers, sending a multitude of student-athletes to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Championships.
A four-year wrestling letterman for the Mountaineers, Mance also earned three letters in soccer and track & field at Appalachian. An NAIA National Wrestling Championship participant in 1969, Mance served as team captain his senior season. He was a member of four Appalachian wrestling squads that advanced to the NAIA Championships, finishing among the top-26 teams twice and two times among the top 16 small college teams in the nation. His senior season, the Mountaineers finished 13th at the national tournament. He also received the Lloyd Hobbs Most Dedicated Wrestler Award for the 1968-69 campaign.
As a prep athlete at Alexandria High School, Mance earned four letters in football, three each in baseball and basketball, and one in wrestling. Named team captain in both wrestling and football, Mance was selected as Alexandria’s Athlete-of-the-Year as a senior.
Mance, who earned his master’s degree in Health and Physical Education from Appalachian in 1971. In addition to his coaching duties, Mance teaches physical education classes at Appalachian. Mance and his wife Joy reside in Boone. His two sons, Jeff and John, both wrestled and earned their degrees at Appalachian.



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